The Dublin Community Blog

It was confirmed today that the Green Luas line will be further extended from the still to be completed terminus in Cherrywood all the way out to Bray. It is hoped that the line will be completed by 2015.

The Bray Chamber are naturally delighted, but, being devils advocate, I have to ask if this is really the best way to extend the Luas? After all Bray is currently served by the Dart, which the Luas will interconnect with in Bray as well as at the new inter-connector to be built at St Stephens Green. I wonder would other parts of Dublin have been better served by a new rail/tram link than Bray? Does anyone feel their area is getting overlooked in the public transport plans?

Jurys Hotel Ballsbridge and the nearby Berkeley Court closed its doors today at lunchtime for the last time. Both hotels have been open since the early 70′s and were sold to property tycoon Sean Dunne in 2005 for €260m and €120m respectively.

Jurys and the Berkely have been home to many famous faces over the years. They were also popular watering holes with rugby and football fans before and after matches at Lansdowne Road. Jurys was also famous for its 23-hour Coffee Dock where late night/early morning Dublin revellers could get a fine feed before heading to bed.

I think its a sad day and going to matches in Lansdowne will certainly be a different experience in their absence.

The contents of both hotels are being auctioned off in Jurys ballroom on Friday next. Full auction details can be found here (pdf).

If only the walls could talk …

One of the results of economic progress in Ireland is the relentless construction that surrounds. Here in Dublin’s suburbs, we see it on the motorway. We see it near the supermarkets. We drive through it to get to the train or LUAS station. Often, it even seems to be in our back garden.

Since my wife and I moved in to our house 7 or 8 months ago, there’s been an apartment building project just over the wall from our back garden. Recently, we noticed a large shadow moving across our estate, like a massive bird flying overhead. When we looked up, we saw that it was a crane. No, not the feathered, egg-laying type, but rather the steel kind that you might remember seeing the new 007 jump around on in pursuit of a bad guy. Fortunately, I’m quite certain that this crane won’t cause the noise and earth quakes that the large, machine operated jack hammers have done over the last 2 months. I’m also quite certain we’ve even had a stray rock, a little larger than the size of a golf ball, fly over and chip the windscreen of our car.

Just last week, we noticed construction crews beginning to clear a path to extend the LUAS line from Sandyford, across the M50 and down through Carickmines where (rumour has it) a Sainsbury’s supermarket is scheduled to go in, across the car park from PC World and Woodie’s.

Most suburbanite Dubliners find the constant construction a little unnerving at times, but seem very aware that it’s a necessary result of the “Celtic Tiger� economy. While local government and construction crews can always do more to make it less invasive, people seem to recognize that every individual project has an end. Which can never seem to come quite soon enough.